Showing posts with label ice cream. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ice cream. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

by CHLOE Brings Vegan Comforts to Boston Seaport

by CHLOE, a New York-based casual vegan restaurant, finally opened a location in Boston. The first Boston location is in the Seaport district while a second store in Fenway is on the way. I attended their opening preview, sampling a lot of vegan dishes and desserts. I am surprised to say, I really enjoyed these vegan dishes! And you should all know I'm a carnivore by now.

They have pastas and salads, of course, but also other classic comfort food items that somehow tasted really good even as a vegan version.
by CHLOE
For example, the "mac n cheese". The "cheese" is a sweet potato cashew vegan cheese, and the mac n cheese was topped with crispy shiitake "bacon"
by CHLOE
The Guac Burger is quite popular, and I can see. It's made with a black bean-quinoa-sweet potato patty and topped with corn salsa, guacamole, onion, tortilla strips, chipotle aioli on a whole grain bun. It was very flavorful!
by CHLOE
by CHLOE location in Seaport also has Boston-only specials, like the "lobster roll".

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Shake Shack Introduces Roadside Shack Burger

Shake Shack just introduced their newest limited edition burger: The Roadside Shack. Inspired by many traditional roadside burgers, this beef cheeseburger is topped by caramelized onions that have been simmered in bacon and beer.
I asked for a double patty which costs $8.99 ($6.19 for a single)

Shake Shack
If you haven't had Shake Shack before, they use 100% Angus all-natural beef burger, and it's a great burger patty. I thought the caramelized onion wouldn't be that heavy, but thanks to being simmered in bacon, this burger was quite rich and made the burger even juicier! It certainly takes you back to eating on the side of the highway, but this time with better ingredients.

Thursday, July 2, 2015

Bite-Sized Frozen Yogurt with Stonyfield's Wiki Pearls

It's pretty cool when the worlds of science and food collide. At least one Harvard professor is doing so with WikiPearl. The idea comes from natural fruit skin, where the flesh is protected from the environment by an edible skin. They've partnered with Stonyfield for this edible packaging idea in their frozen yogurt pearls, creating frozen yogurt you can eat with your hands.

WikiPearl

For me, the idea has not completely replaced regular retail packaging, since you still have to package the wiki pearls, but one day we can hopefully minimize it since you don't have to package each pearls separately. The WikiPearl skin doesn't melt so putting two together won't make them stick to each other or cross contaminate the others. You can see below the frozen yogurt inside a pearl. With Stonyfield's products, the skin is also flavored, creating different combinations between the yogurt and the skin.
WikiPearl
Plus, ice cream or froyo as finger food is fun! I think they'll be great at parties. Or even when I'm craving ice cream at home, since these pearls as bite-sized. Portion control. Works way better than plopping down with a pint of ice cream and a spoon.

Right now, Stonyfield's WikiPearls can be found at Whole Foods Markets across New England. You can give them a try for your next house party. No need to wash ice cream cups and spoons!

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Atticus Creamery & Pies (West LA)

by guest blogger @btsunoda

If you haven’t noticed, pies have made a comeback. Doing a simple search on pies in the LA area yields a lot more than simple coffee shops. Many bakeries are featuring pies in a big way and I found that many pie shops now exist. Atticus Creamery & Pies is a new dessert shop in West LA. What is unique about their operation is that they are first and foremost a pie shop.
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Each day, they painstakingly hand roll their crust and slowly assemble their pies by hand using natural ingredients. Unlike traditional pies that only have a crust and a filling, Atticus makes unique four-layered pies. They begin with their hand rolled crust, then add a filling such as fresh fruit jam, then layer another filling such as mousse or custard. It is then topped with light cream with additions such as caramelized popcorn or toasted pieces of coconut. IMG_1024

Friday, June 12, 2015

Ben & Jerry's Factory Tour (Waterbury, Vermont)

On my road trip from Boston to Montreal, we passed by the Ben & Jerry's ice cream factory in Waterbury, Vermont (close to Burlington) so we made a quick pit stop for a factory tour!

Ben and Jerry's

The factory is a fun place with colorful and playful decorations and touches all over the place.
Ben and Jerry's

The tour typically costs $4 but here's a tip: if you check in on Foursquare, you'll get a free tour! The factories aren't always in production, however, but you can still see where the ice cream is made. We caught them during the cleaning period so we didn't see the machines in action. Oh, well. They do a deep cleaning every time they change the flavor they're making.
Ben and Jerry's
First part of the tour was a video of the history of the company, which they've made to be quite entertaining.


Sunday, May 10, 2015

Five Sweet Stops in Phoenix, AZ

When you live in a city that gets a hot as Phoenix and Scottsdale do, great dessert places are a must. Ice creams, soft serves, donuts ... I was quite impressed at the desserts I ate while I was in Phoenix on my last trip! Some of the flavors are very adventurous, some more than what I'm finding in Boston. Here are the five top spots for sweets and desserts in the Phoenix area:

1. Churn
Churn
The list of great ice cream shops in Phoenix goes on and on, but you must stop at Churn. Churn is known for their ice cream sandwiches, with deliciously gooey cookies and creamy, freshly churned ice creams. You can also get a scoop of ice cream and a half cookie as a topping. I had the Vietnamese coffee and Hangover Helper (a whiskey ice cream) topped with half a salted chocolate chip cookie. You can get two different cookies for your ice cream sandwiches, too!
Churn

5223 N Central Ave
Phoenix, AZ 85012
Churn on Urbanspoon

2. Rollover Donuts (also at Short Leash Hot Dogs)
The Bear donut

Saturday, April 11, 2015

Creamistry: Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream

by: guest blogger @btsunoda

What? Made to order liquid nitrogen ice cream? Yep. Creamistry is a new and innovative ice cream shop where ice cream is made-to-order from liquid nitrogen before your very eyes!
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Ingredients are mixed in front of you and then a blast of liquid nitrogen is applied to the mixture to instantly create ice cream! If you haven’t seen it before, it’s quite the experience, especially for children.
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Their ‘Creamologist’ utilizes over 50 premium ingredients to prepare customized handcrafted ice cream, including Straus cream with organic and non-GMO soy options. There are 10 signature flavors to choose from: including vanilla bean with candied bacon, salted caramel, chocolate hazelnut and an array of Asian-inspired flavors such as Thai iced tea, red-bean, matcha green tea and avocado (made from fresh Haas avocados).

Friday, September 5, 2014

Choctal: Single Origin Chocolate and Vanilla Ice Cream

As chocolate lovers, single origin chocolate bars are very desirable. The taste of the "terroir", so to speak, is distinctly noticeable. But why stop at chocolate bars? Can't we ice cream lovers have the same thing with our chocolate ice creams? Enter Choctal and their line of not only single origin chocolate ice creams, but also single origin vanilla ice cream!

To start, these are premium, creamy ice creams that are each wonderful on its own (Ruth Reichl called it "the perfect chocolate ice cream"), but I really appreciated the concept when I compare the different chocolates or vanillas back to back. For the moment, there are four flavors of chocolate and four vanillas available. 

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Exploring the Borough Market in London

One of the Chowzter stops in London was The Borough Market, one of the largest and oldest food markets in London.

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I never realized until then just how much the Brits love their cheese. It seemed like more than half of the market was selling cheese! And they look and smell amazing. If only there was a way for me to bring them home ...
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One of the Chowzter picks is the sausage roll from The Ginger Pig. The Ginger Pig is a butcher shop so they make their own pork sausages with sage and breadcrumbs. The sausage is wrapped in a crispy puff pastry. Surprisingly large and sure to fill you up. During the holidays they add cranberry to the sausage as well.
Sausage roll

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Turkey Ice Cream? Thanksgiving Flavors from Portland's Salt and Straw,Now at Joan's on Third

Portland's Salt & Straw small batch ice creams aren't sold anywhere else outside of Portland - other than our very own Joan's On Third, that is! Joan had long been searching for the right ice cream to serve at Joan's On Third, and when they tried Salt & Straw they knew that was the one. They somehow managed to convince cousins Kim and Tyler Malek to partner up. 

Now, not only can you try this farm-to-cone goodness in town, you can also try their fun Thanksgiving flavors. Co-owner Tyler Malek has really gone all the way this year, creating a whole "Thanksgiving dinner" with ice cream.

The first, is the sweet potato and candied pecan ice cream with gooey marshmallow fluff! If you like sweet potato you will love this.
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There's "apple cranberry stuffing." This was a celery ice cream with apple cranberry bread pudding.
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The celery ice cream is lightly sweet, a perfect vehicle for the bread pudding inside. This was paired with Lanson Brut Champagne.

Monday, February 25, 2013

Planned Parenthood's Cocktail Pairing at The Corner Door

Planned Parenthood is one of the more controversial nonprofit organizations, sadly. Each year, PPLA Food Fare receives their share of anti-abortion protesters in front of their event, even though the majority of PPLA's services (97%) include cancer screenings, STD treatments and testings, and contraceptive services.

PPLA Food Fare is the organization's biggest fundraiser of the year. It started 34 years ago with a simple cooking demo from Julia Child but now draws 1500 attendees to partake in good food and wine from over 100 vendors (see my recap of the 2011 Food Fare). The Food Fare is returning to Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on Thursday March 7th. There are two sessions. The daytime session rungs from 10:30am-2pm ($150) and the evening session, which usually have more restaurants participating than the daytime one, runs from 6:30-9:30pm ($225). You can buy tickets on their website or by calling (213) 284-3200x3700.

There are many great restaurants participating including Angelini Osteria, Drago Centro, the new Hart and The Hunter, Joe's Restaurant, and The Corner Door. Libations will be offered by The Beer Chicks, La Fenetre Winery, and more. To promote the PPLA Food Fare, I was invited to a cocktail paired meal at The Corner Door in Culver City. This new restaurant has become a very popular destination in Culver City, with waits up to an hour for a table at dinner time.

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The chef at The Corner Door is Luke Reyes, who moved from from Massachussetts to work for Ludo Lefebvre. Since then he had been Chef de Cuisine at Gorbals, then Michael Mina, and most recently, Tasting Kitchen.
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Behind the bar program is Beau du Bois. Beau has opened a few bars in the LA area, including MB Post.

The restaurant doesn't want to call itself gastropub because the term has been misused in LA lately. Instead, they emphasize that they offer a "laid back", ingredient driven menu.
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olives and rosemary
Bread is made in house, including the foccacia with olive, red onion, rosemary
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We started our pairing with Lettuces and Avocado, Bayley Hazen blue cheese, watermelon radish, peppercorn.
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The salad has a citrus dressing and was paired with King's Assassin (gin, blanc sweet vermouth, Salers, Cocchi Americano, Cointreau).

The King's Assassin is a play on Negroni with a light, bright, vegetal quality from the Salers, which pairs well with the citrus in the salad. This cocktail is nicely balanced, strong but easy to drink.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Grom is Awesome

I've found it. The best gelateria in LA, Grom. Yes, it's a "chain" (from Italy) but this is no Piccomolo.

Grom opened in Torino in 2003 to great success and expanded to shops abroad starting from New York City in 2007. Now it has finally come to LA in a shopping center in Malibu.

Grom gelato
Entering the store, you will notice the pictures of produce hanging on the wall that say where they come from (seasonal fruits, almonds from Avola, pistachios from Syria, chocolates from Venezuela or Colombia). Taste some of the 30 flavors of the day and you will be confounded by the selection. They're just all. so. good.
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The consistency is dense and creamy, and the flavors of the ingredients come out strong. There's none of those sweet red stuff that only vaguely taste like strawberries. Each of the fruit sorbets tasted like biting into a cold version of the fruit itself, the dark chocolate is rich and intense (they also have an extra dark chocolate one, which we didn't dare try). I may have to do a side by side tasting of their pistachio against Bulgarini, but at the moment I am actually leaning towards Grom. Overall: Excellence.

The only con for me is its location, all the way in Malibu. On the other hand, they are open until 11 pm on weekends, so you can make the drive at night traffic-free. I'd do it in a heartbeat.



Grom Gelateria Malibu
Grom Gelateria
3886 Cross Creek Rd
Malibu, CA 90265
(310) 456-9797
http://www.grom.it/eng/index.php

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

City Tavern (Culver City, CA)

The newly opened City Tavern in Culver City may be known for having self-serve taps on the tables, but that is certainly not what they are all about. With more than 20 craft beers on tap, I'm glad they serve taster-size portions. Telegrahp, Lost Abbey, Eagle Rock Brewery, and many more. My friend and I shared tasters along the way, "pairing" them with our food with the help of our knowledgeable waitress.

The dinner started strong with some fresh Carlsbad Luna Oysters with vodka mignonette and fresh horseradish ($15)

Fresh Oysters

Instead of champagne, we had the oysters along with some crisp Julian Hard Cider!
Julian Hard Cider

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

How to Blind Date at The Market

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You meet for coffee at the newly opened The Market at the Santa Monica Place. It's bright and spacious. Maybe you meet at Groundworks or get some Austrian coffee from Rockenwagner and chat over pretzels and danishes.
Rockenwagner Bakery
You want to spend more time with her so you ask if she wants to have dinner at The Curious Palate. You find out she loves craft beers and has good taste in food and you think it's awesome. After dinner maybe you take her for some ice cream at N'Ice Cream or ice cream sandwiches from Beachy Cream. Maybe you share a chewy chocolate chip cookie right out of the oven from the Cookie Guru.
Sample-bearing girls from Beachy Cream
Fresh chocolate chip cookies from Cookie Guru
You want to impress her so you decide to take cooking classes at the Gourmandise School of Sweets and Savories. You buy a bottle of wine at Venokado, some cheese and cured meat (maybe one of those truffled ham?) from Norcino Salumeria Cheese Bar and invite her over for a romantic dinner.
Classroom at Gourmandise
Your anniversary rolls around and you ask her to meet you at the place you first met. You get to The Market 15 minutes early and buy some beautiful flowers at Magical Blooms, some truffles and macarons at L'Artisan du Chocolat and you're all set. It's a one-stop-shop.
Macarons at L'Artisan du Chocolat
Orchids at Magical Blooms

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Scoops Westside is in Business (Congrats!)

Fellow blogger Mattatouille's project, Scoops Westside, is finally in business! The second extension of the famed Scoops ice cream opened its doors on December 1st in a little strip mall in Palms, just down the street from Chego!, serving Tai's beloved ice cream along with Intelligentsia coffee and tea.

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Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Ice Cream Social at Rosa Mexicano

Rosa Mexicano at the L.A. Live holds "festivals" to introduce the flavors of Mexico from time to time. For the month of July, they are holding an ice cream festival, Festival de Helados, with ten flavors of ice cream and sorbet. Rosa Mexicano developed these ice cream and sorbet in conjuction with MILK on Beverly Blvd and Fosselman's in Alhambra.

Last week I was invited to an "Ice Cream Social" to taste all these flavors. After an 80-degree afternoon, I was ready.

We started with a bottle of Modelo beer and a small scoop of the Pomegranate hibiscus sorbet.
Followed by the Sea salt cajeta (goat's milk caramel). You can really taste the goat's milk here, which I really enjoyed.

Tomatillo lime ice was a favorite of mine and one of the more intriguing flavors.
Not too sweet and very refreshing, this also made a great float with the Modelo beer.

Pomegranate mint chocolate chip fudge swirl was a delicious combination of flavors.
I liked this flavor a lot and lucky for you, according to Caroline on Crack, they're keeping this one on the regular menu.

Cookies and cream + Negra Modelo float.
The Negra Modelo also went well with the Mexican Chocolate.

They also have homemade toppings available. My favorite was the Strawberry Crisp which was made with corn flakes and strawberry puree.

I ended up mostly enjoying the Caramel popcorn and the crack-n-peel peanuts as snacks rather than toppings.

We put the strawberry crisp topping on one of my favorites, blueberry and crema (creme fraiche).
I really liked the tartness that came from the creme fraiche.

Unfortunately you only have until August 1st to try all ten flavors, but some of them will remain on the regular menu if you can't make it by then! Also, you can also ask to see if they have any left. See if they have another of my favorite: the sweet corn caramel.

Rosa Mexicano
800 W Olympic Blvd
Los Angeles, California 90015
(213) 746-000

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Scoops: The Ultimate End of Summer Loot

Summer's almost over, and it's still hot. The only good thing about this heat is how much better it makes certain things, like icees, smoothies, and of course - ice cream! So it was time for me to check out Scoops on Heliotrope. (this is a backpost from a couple weeks ago - when it's even hotter!)

It seems like such a weird location. A small, cute place decorated with christmas lights next to dark industrial buildings on a small street. But it's known to be the best ice cream in LA, so the crowds still gather, sitting on small tables outside.Scoops offers a variety of flavors - from really unique flavors to dairy-free and vegan selections.
We ordered the large one - 6 flavors!! It was less than $6 and it ended up being 2 large full styrofoam containers! They are very generous and much cheaper than, say, gelato places!
So the flavors we got were:
Strawberry Lingonberry, Chocolate coconut, lemon mint sorbet, raisin and white wine, black sesame

(I didn't take a picture since we got it to go and everything was in a styro container with the lid on)

AMAZING! I felt like I have not had ice cream this good in a long time! The strawberry lingonberry was my favorite. Their ice cream is very smooth and creamy, their sorbey really refreshing. Their chocolate ice cream was wonderful - very chocolatey.

Of course, we couldn't finish it all so we ended up taking one container home. It didn't refreeze too well :/ (melted on the way home) but it was still very good. It's a bit far from my place, but nonetheless, mark my words, I will be back, even when it's no longer hot outside!


Scoops
712 N Heliotrope Dr
Los Angeles, CA 90029
(323) 906-2649

Scoops on Urbanspoon

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